Lately, it seems all the news is bad.
Here’s some good news.
You can safely ignore all the people setting their hair on fire, running in circles and panicking about climate change.
When I was a kid, it was global cooling. The world was going to perish in an ice age. If we didn’t send more money to the government, the world was going to end. It was coming. Real soon.
Then, sometime in my teenage years, it was global warming. The world was going to perish in a heat death. If we didn’t send more money to the government, the world was going to end. It was coming. Real soon.
Then, when I was in college scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer. So, we all stopped using hairspray. Probably not a bad idea. Anyway, if we didn’t send more money to the government, the world was going to end. Real soon.
These days, it’s climate change. If we don’t send more money to the government, the world is going to end. Seriously. The end is coming. Real soon now.
If you aren’t already ignoring these doomsayers, then today is a good day to start.
This has been going on for a long time.
Here are 50 more failed predictions: https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/
Some of them are quite fun to read.
The next time some politician flips out and predicts the end of the world (followed by an appeal for more taxes), relax.
Igbok. It’s gonna be ok.
The classes:
Here is what we are up to. Since I record everything I teach, you are welcome to jump into classes any time.
Spanish – Monday-Friday 7:00 – 7:25 am Central Time Zone (CTZ). In Spanish, we are currently in chapter 19 of the book All Spanish Method by Guillermo Aviles. If you are starting out this year, and you want to tag along, the previous chapters are all up on my site. Subscribers have access to them 24/7.
Keep in mind… I am still learning Spanish. So, I am “teaching” this class. Really, I am learning in front of my students.
French – Monday-Friday 7:30 – 7:55 am CTZ. This week, we will wrap up chapter 4 of Le Francais par la Methode Nature. Last year, I took students through the first 20 chapters, or so. This time, we will try to make it to the end. There are 50 chapters. It will take a few years. I do not intend to start over next summer.
Keep in mind… I am still learning French. So, I am “teaching” this class. Really, I am learning in front of my students.
Latin
I am teaching three Latin classes, as it turns out.
Latin 3: Monday-Friday 6:30 – 6:55 am CTZ.
In this class we were reading Third Year Latin by Robert Henle
This class is paused. No one was showing up, and as it is likely the most boring book I have ever read in my life, I lost motivation.
I plan to pick it back up this week.
By the way, I am not alone in my assessment. C.S. Lewis called Cicero the “great bore”, and Dorothy Sayers recommended Latin teachers “throw that dreary man Cicero out the window”.
Do everything you can do to skip this class.
Instead, read Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg. But, if you must read the Henle book, I will do my best to help you.
Latin 2: Monday-Friday 8:00-8:25 am CTZ
We continue to work our way through Exercitia Latina. We are currently in chapter 21. This class is really for those who want to go even deeper into Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg.
Latin 1: Monday-Friday 8:30-8:55 am CTZ
This year, we started Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg over again. Enough people asked. We are currently in chapter three.
Though I can’t believe it, every year some people come to every class I teach. I guess they just like my voice.
So, if you decide to come to them all, here are the same classes from above in chronological order:
- 6:30 – 6:55 am – Latin 3: Third Year Latin by Robert Henle
- 7:00 – 7:25 am – Spanish 2: All Spanish Method by Guillermo Aviles
- 7:30 – 7:55 am – French 1: Le Francais par la Methode Nature
- 8:00 – 8:25 am – Latin 2: Exercitia Latina by Hans Ørberg
- 8:30 – 8:55 am – Latin 1: Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg
And now… the same thing I say every week.
Subscribers sometimes use my weekly emails as reminders to unsubscribe from my site.
Just keep in mind… I offer something no one else in academia (as far as I know) offers. Stick with me for 3 uninterrupted years and you will have a lifetime subscription.
I now know this is a dumb business decision on my part, but I have heard from many of you that it is a huge help, so the offer stands.
Of course, if you are just starting out in Latin, you may be happier with Visual Latin.
Visual Latin is a full-blown Latin course. It is rigorous, just not as rigorous as the classes on my site. The classes on my site are more “next level” classes, really.
By the way, if you are into etymology (the history of words), and if you would like to see me make a fool of myself, you might enjoy Word Up.
Five years ago, or so, we launched this series just to see if it would work. It did.
And, after years of listening to many of you beg for more, I finally gave in and agreed to make a fool of myself once again.
So now, Volumes 2 and 3 of Word Up are available.
And… if you aren’t a member of my site and would like to join, click here: https://dwanethomas.com/join/.
I hope you have a very happy Saturday!
Dwane
P.S.
If someone forwarded you this email and you would like to hear from me every week, just go to this page: https://dwanethomas.com/
Scroll down a bit until you see my book, Via. Enter your name and email and you will hear from me weekly. You will also get a free copy of my book, Via!
